Ludwig Suthaus

Ludwig Suthaus ( born December 12, 1906 in Cologne, † September 7, 1971 in West Berlin ) was a German heroic tenor.

Biography

During his apprenticeship as a stonemason Suthaus ' singing talent was discovered. He was then 17 years with the possibility of first study in addition to his teaching at the Cologne College of Music, where his teacher considered him Julius Lenz initially for a baritone, but was persuaded by Suthaus and then it was training him to tenor.

1928 debuted Suthaus in Aachen as Walther von Stolzing in Richard Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. From 1932 to 1942 he was engaged at the Staatstheater Stuttgart, but was because he did not joined the Nazi Party, for " politically unacceptable " found and released. The Berlin State Opera, where he was engaged since 1941, apparently had no such concerns, nor the directors of the Bayreuth Festival, where he in 1943 - again with the Meistersinger - debuted and regularly sang in since then.

The singer remained for the rest of his career in Berlin, joined only in 1949 by the now east of the city lying at the State Opera German Opera Berlin in the western part.

Then there was a lively guest performances all over the world, including at the Vienna State Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan, the National Theatre Munich, the Hamburg State Opera, the Paris Opera and the San Francisco Opera.

Ludwig Suthaus belonged in the final years of the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler to its preferred Wagner performers. Joint recordings are:

Tristan and Isolde (1952 ), Der Ring des Nibelungen - Siegfried - (1953) and Die Walküre - Siegmund - ( 1954 - Furtwängler's last recording ).

The consequences of a car accident ended Suthaus ' singing career. He died at just 64 years in his adopted hometown of Berlin. His grave is in the cemetery army street in Berlin 's Charlottenburg district.

Importance

Ludwig Suthaus ' voice had neither the metallic luster nor the vocal energy of Lauritz Melchior, but had a rather soft, melancholy, slightly guttural sound. Therefore, he was not only the Danes, but often also other tenors with powerful voices like Günther Treptow, Max Lorenz, Bernd Aldenhoff or Ramón Vinay during his career in the shadow.

In retrospect, it surpasses these four to vocal culture, intensity and phrasing ability. That's why he still holds true today - in addition to Melchior and Jon Vickers - as one of the most memorable performer in particular the Tristan.